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You have heard me say that you can learn a lot about marketing just by looking around. By observing a boxing match you can usually see the winning boxer throw a one-two combination punch. In marketing, the one-two technique also works. Some may call it the Texas two-step or maybe even baiting the hook then setting it. Regardless of which analogy you choose, they all apply to marketing.
With the bombardment of marketing messages that we all experience, marketing that stands out is obviously more effective than marketing that looks like a "me too" copycat campaign. To stand out you have to get attention. To get attention you have to offer something of value. This attention getting process and the vehicle to get that attention is the first punch in the one-two marketing technique. Just like in boxing, you want to throw that first punch so the boxer will pay attention to it, leaving the receiver open to punch number two.
First Punch
The first punch in marketing is also defined as a hook. The hook is an attention getting device designed to get a prospect to dig further, pursue more information, or in fact, buy. A hook is not the whole offering. It is a tease, a sample, and a mental appetizer. The hook should give you just enough taste to leave you wanting more. Information does this.
Information is an ideal hook because the cost of developing this type of hook is relatively low or non-existent. Many hooks come in the form of special reports, white papers, handbooks, top 10 lists, checklists, FAQ reports, articles, etc. Here are some hooks specific for the printing industry. Look closely at the attention getting headline or offer statements associated with the actual hook:
- Free Guide: Seven Mistakes People Make When Choosing A Printer
- Special Report: Before You Order Your Next Brochure, You Should Read this Report
- This is What Our Competition Won't Tell You About Direct Mail
- 12 Ways to Use Postcards in Your Business at Half the Cost
These are only a few "marketing hooks" that you can use. They are only limited by your imagination. Think about what is valuable to your prospect. What problems would they like to have solved by your free information? What will make them more interested in what you have to say or offer?
Taking the hook is permission to follow up and market more to the hooked prospect. Keeping a prospect interested after the first punch is effective marketing and sets the prospect up, ideally, for the second punch.
These first punches, or hooks, can be highlighted with bold print, in starbursts, or in coupon form on all of your printed marketing. They are also effective on websites. The hook on a website is the difference between a brochure online and your site actually doing marketing. Some of the more popular hooks online are coupons, contests, free downloads of information, free consultations, and free e-zine subscriptions. Once you get a prospect or, in this case, a browser to take one of those hooks, your probability of converting them into a paying client increases significantly.
If you visit www.market-for-profits.com, you will see an offer for two free chapters of "Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days." This is a hook. This is punch number one. Punch number two is the subsequent marketing message offering real products and services for sale, along with the communication of the associated features and benefits of the respective products and services.
Now that you have set up your prospect with the first punch you are ready for the second punch.
Punch Two
The second punch is a subsequent marketing message delivered along with the hook. If you are sending a special report, then enclose an order sheet, fact sheet, sales sheet, offer sheet, or something that will sell or lead a prospect to buy. Sometimes the second punch is a series of communications to start and continue a relationship with a particular prospect.
Many marketing hooks and first punches will even instruct the recipient to look for more information by visiting a website, sending in for more information, or calling a toll free number to hear a special, confidential recording about next steps they should take.
Two things are very evident here. First, know what you want your marketing to do. Second, tell prospects what to do. Notice the verbs in the calls to action just mentioned. You are telling prospects what to do, but only after you have identified what you want your marketing to do. Don't take this step for granted.
I had a lady visit my office the other day who wanted to create and print a brochure. When I asked her what she was going to do with the brochure—what her marketing goal was for the brochure—her reply was, "I don't know. I just want a brochure for my business." She was guilty of having one-punch marketing and, unfortunately, the punch was only the second punch. The second punch won't land unless the first punch sets up the second punch. Ask any boxer. Ask any successful marketer.
So many companies and so many salespeople want to deliver the whole message right away on the first contact. This is a sure way to turn off a prospect, especially if they are not interested in what you have to offer or have to say. Getting a prospect to take a hook, to be set up with that first punch indicates preliminary interest in your product, service, or what you have to say. Interested prospects lead to paying customers. Non-interested prospects surely won't buy.
Consider the following questions to identify your first punch in marketing:
- What reports, lists, studies, articles, or survey information do you have now that prospects might be interested in receiving?
- What article or white paper titles are appealing to your target market?
- Would your hooks be best offered with direct mail, in advertisements, in commercials, or on websites?
- What hooks from other companies have you noticed in direct mail, advertisements, commercials, or on websites?
- Can you fulfill the request for anything offered by your hook? If not, what steps can be put in place?
Now that you know how to set up a one-two punch for your marketing, get out there and knock out some new business.
Al Lautenslager is the president and owner of The Ink Well in Wheaton, IL. He is a certified guerrilla marketing coach and a contributing columnist to entrepreneur.com, the online version of Entrepreneur magazine. He is co-author of "Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days" and author of "Kick It Up a Notch Marketing — 25 High-Impact Marketing Strategies for Printers." Contact him at: al@market-for-profits.com.
author: by Al Lautenslager